According to Holmes in canon you can only catch a blackmailer and bring him to court officially if he accidentally blackmails an innocent person and this person tells the story and goes to the police.
Maybe that was Sherlock's original plan. That would require that Sherlock didn't actually take drugs and was clean when Molly tested him.

Sherlock's plan might have been to be the bait himself, take drugs, become the victim of blackmail and bring him to justice. In this case he could take drugs for a case, be the hero and sacrifice his reputation in the eyes of the public and still be the hero because he would not care about his drug use being exposed. CAM said that later in Appledore.
In a way that happened exactly, just not with the drug plot and outside the judicial system (vigilante justice).
So the Superintendent in TRF had a point.

Punch me in the face wrote:

Yeah, I think so too. Even if his explanation does make sense, I like to believe (how sadistic I am!) that Moftiss followed the canon (at the end of TOSF: "For me, said sherlock, there still remains the cocaine bottle. And he stretched his long white hand up for it"), that Sherlock is really affected by John's wedding (and even John said it wouldn't change anything, I think that at the beginning of the episode, they hadn't seen each other for a month or something, or maybe i did get that wrong?), there's a "slight" difference between living with a person and spend all your time with them and seeing them only once a month!!! So maybe Sherlock got depressed and got back to his old habits, and used it as an excuse for the case...

That line you just quoted comes right after Holmes learns that his Watson is leaving him to marry a woman. The Seven Percent Solution (a pastiche that re-writes The Final Problem) also has Holmes' drug use get worse when Watson leaves.

But in this series, I thought that up until now, all we had seen Sherlock use was nicotine? (Which is very unhealthy, but doesn't have the same effects that other drugs have on the mind.)

While the original Sherlock (in Doyle) used cocaine, it was when he was bored. It never interfered with his ability to solve a case. And it wasn't illegal in that era, so while it still threatened his health, it didn't require him to consort with criminal types to get it, or subject him to blackmail (that we know of).

Interesting, the Watson of canon deeply admires Holmes and is very deferential most of the time...but the cocaine is the one thing he really takes a stand about.

Last edited by SherlocklivesinOH (February 8, 2014 4:26 am)

Did we see him use anything besides nicotine before this episode? (Other than the Stag Night, of course.)

Mangnussen himself says he realizes that drugs aren't a pressure point he can use on Sherlock. He doesn't seem to believe that Sherlock will get in trouble with the law over using them, or that they will impair his abilities to the point that Scotland Yard won't want to work with him, or even that he (CAM) could make it look like that. And he admits Sherlock won't bend to his will in exchange for the fact of his using drugs being covered up (maybe Sherlock was thinking he could use that possibility to trap CAM?)

besleybean wrote:

Didn't Sherlock perpetuate the drug story to initiate a meeting with CAM, so CAM felt he could pressurise him? But Sherlock was really wanting the access to CAM.

Yes, he did. And I believe him that this was the only reason for being in the den, and that he has control over his drug use (even though it might have been different in the past). If you think too much about it it can really sound like a lousy excuse, but we received lousier excuses throughout the series for other events, I stopped overthinking all explanations or hidden motives after the off-switch. 

Willow wrote:

miriel68 wrote:

I think we can be reasonably certain they won't push Sherlock into drugs: there are some hints he  might have occasionally "experimented" with them, but since he got interested in deductions and detectives quite early (Carl Powers!) I doubt he was even in a serious danger. And the best assurance against the show going ever in this direction it is probabbly  JLM "Elementary" which features Sherlock as a recovering drug addict.. 

 
I love it! So cynical and so true.

Me too..

Plus I doubt the writers having such a romantic approach to Sherlock´s character as to drive him into despair and drugs by John´s marriage, but then that´s just my impression.

Last edited by Zatoichi (February 9, 2014 9:31 am)

I think I'm right in saying Moffat has said they wouldn't go into the drugs thing too much, but then hasn't he been known to change his mind about things!
The thing is, he was high at the start of the episode - so those scenes showed us how he is when under the influence - ever so slightly less "tight" in the way he carries himself, and the way he talks and acts: it was very subtle - brilliantly done, in fact - but the changes in his demeanour WERE there.
I find it easy to believe that his cases replace the high he gets from drugs, but slightly less easy to believe that an addict could simply stop the drugs and switch to their replacement whenever they choose and without any help.
Janine knew he'd been taking drugs - she referenced it at the Hospital. This may have been in the hope that she'd feed the info to CAM, but even so, there had still been a period of time when he was using.
Then at the end of the episode, and even accounting for the other factors that influenced his behaviour, we see a slightly different from usual Sherlock confront CAM - again he's just slightly more loose, he miscalculates, not realising there are no paper files (he's already told Janine that morphine impairs his thinking) and then resorts to violence (as he does with Mycroft in the opening scenes).
I'm not saying I think he is on drugs, but I definitely think it's a possibility that his usage of them carried on throughout the episode - helped by the amount of time he must have been on morphine in the hospital.

Willow wrote:

Tinks wrote:

I think I'm right in saying Moffat has said they wouldn't go into the drugs thing too much, but then hasn't he been known to change his mind about things!
The thing is, he was high at the start of the episode - so those scenes showed us how he is when under the influence - ever so slightly less "tight" in the way he carries himself, and the way he talks and acts: it was very subtle - brilliantly done, in fact - but the changes in his demeanour WERE there.
I find it easy to believe that his cases replace the high he gets from drugs, but slightly less easy to believe that an addict could simply stop the drugs and switch to their replacement whenever they choose and without any help.
Janine knew he'd been taking drugs - she referenced it at the Hospital. This may have been in the hope that she'd feed the info to CAM, but even so, there had still been a period of time when he was using.
Then at the end of the episode, and even accounting for the other factors that influenced his behaviour, we see a slightly different from usual Sherlock confront CAM - again he's just slightly more loose, he miscalculates, not realising there are no paper files (he's already told Janine that morphine impairs his thinking) and then resorts to violence (as he does with Mycroft in the opening scenes).
I'm not saying I think he is on drugs, but I definitely think it's a possibility that his usage of them carried on throughout the episode - helped by the amount of time he must have been on morphine in the hospital.

You are postulating that Sherlock is an addict, and I certainly agree that he is having a hard time kicking his nicotine addiction; however, as Belis has pointed out, heroin is less addictive than nicotine. I have no difficulty in believing that Sherlock would experiment with drugs; he is immensely curious. But there is no evidence that Sherlock is addicted to opiates, and I really do not regard them as the kind of drugs which would appeal to him. 
Certainly Mycroft is not worried, and Mycroft knows Sherlock very well.

Also, another programme droning on about drugs would be immensely boring, and Moftiss do not do boring
 

I hope you're right, as I think we're in dangerous, angst ridden territory when we go too deeply into drug addiction on a show like this.
I'd very respectfully disagree with the idea that he's not an addict though; several people have mentioned his addiction, from the cabby in the very first episode (and his info came from Moriarty, who got it from Mycroft himself), to CAM referring to Mycroft's "junkie detective Brother" - he may well be an addict that's currently clean, but he's still an addict. That's my take on it, anyway, but we can agree to disagree on that, can't we?
Like I say, though I'm not saying that it'll turn out that he's been on drugs for the whole of season 3 at all, in fact if pushed, I'd say they'll definitely not go down that road.
I'm just saying it's not completely improbable .
 

Willow wrote:

Tinks wrote:

Willow wrote:

You are postulating that Sherlock is an addict, and I certainly agree that he is having a hard time kicking his nicotine addiction; however, as Belis has pointed out, heroin is less addictive than nicotine. I have no difficulty in believing that Sherlock would experiment with drugs; he is immensely curious. But there is no evidence that Sherlock is addicted to opiates, and I really do not regard them as the kind of drugs which would appeal to him. 
Certainly Mycroft is not worried, and Mycroft knows Sherlock very well.

Also, another programme droning on about drugs would be immensely boring, and Moftiss do not do boring
 

I hope you're right, as I think we're in dangerous, angst ridden territory when we go too deeply into drug addiction on a show like this.
I'd very respectfully disagree with the idea that he's not an addict though; several people have mentioned his addiction, from the cabby in the very first episode (and his info came from Moriarty, who got it from Mycroft himself), to CAM referring to Mycroft's "junkie detective Brother" - he may well be an addict that's currently clean, but he's still an addict. That's my take on it, anyway, but we can agree to disagree on that, can't we?
Like I say, though I'm not saying that it'll turn out that he's been on drugs for the whole of season 3 at all, in fact if pushed, I'd say they'll definitely not go down that road.
I'm just saying it's not completely improbable .
 

 
Absolutely; we can differ as to our interpretations of the same text. Sherlock was trying to get himself into the papers as a junkie, and Mycroft asks what case could possibly justify that. But as soon as Mycroft hears the word 'Magnessen' he believes Sherlock, which suggests to me that Mycroft is not worried that his brother is an addict to anything other than nicotine.

Also, I'm dubious about the cabbie being an automatically reliable witness, in much the same way that I'm dubious about Moriarty. I see no reason to equate experimenting with drugs with being an opiate addict, not least because if Sherlock did want to do drugs he'd do cocaine. The whole sleazy filthy clothing bit is just so not
Sherlock...

oh dear me, yes - the clothes were truly awful! Not even BC could make them look good :D
 

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

In the earlier episodes, wasn't it mostly smoking (tobacco)?

The original Holmes used drugs when he didn't have anything else to do...and while I can believe this Sherlock would be curious about drugs, would always be looking for new forms of excitement, and would not be opposed to drugs in any moral sense, if he had an interesting mystery to solve I can't believe he would do anything that could sabotage his ability to think. He's all about using his brain to control everything else.

And, (although I know more about drug laws in the US than in the UK), Sherlock is willing to break laws for some purposes, but here in the US, drugs are a big thing people are investigated and arrested for, so if the drugs ARE illegal, that could compromise his position as the ally of Scotland Yard. He didn't seem worried about that, as CAM even acknowledged. ("You wouldn't care if that was exposed.")

And the Stag Night showed him what happens when he tries to "detect" under the influence...but then again, maybe the Stag Night started the trend back off the wagon.

I would LIKE to think he was making himself out to be a junkie to bait CAM. Ironic, after Moriarty's smear campaign.

 

I'm pretty sure that he was trying to draw out Magnussen with the junkie act-- partly because he kept turning down the morphine thingie in the hospital after he was shot. 

I'm in the US, too-- and we have a punitive attitude to drugs; and as for nicotine, well-- here, it's he Anti-Christ. So, I feel like there are some mixed messages in the series--regarding drugs and cigarettes; we don't seem to get as upset with Greg Lestrade for his drinking and smoking, not Mrs. Hudson for her herbal soothers-- but with Sherlock, an intervention complete with slapping the heck out of him is approved and lauded. It smacks of the American focus on "tough love" for addicts, seeing the addict as victimizer *first*-- and not someone with a disease. It's just an observation-- and I'm actually curious to hear from UK viewers-- what is the attitude towards drug use in the UK? How does it differ from the US? Because the approach the writers are using seems a little...Hollywood. 

And by the way-- Maybe Sherlock should take up Vaping. :-)  Much less offensive to his freinds. I did, and haven't had a cigarette in a year and three months. 

 

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

In the earlier episodes, wasn't it mostly smoking (tobacco)?

The original Holmes used drugs when he didn't have anything else to do...and while I can believe this Sherlock would be curious about drugs, would always be looking for new forms of excitement, and would not be opposed to drugs in any moral sense, if he had an interesting mystery to solve I can't believe he would do anything that could sabotage his ability to think. He's all about using his brain to control everything else.

And, (although I know more about drug laws in the US than in the UK), Sherlock is willing to break laws for some purposes, but here in the US, drugs are a big thing people are investigated and arrested for, so if the drugs ARE illegal, that could compromise his position as the ally of Scotland Yard. He didn't seem worried about that, as CAM even acknowledged. ("You wouldn't care if that was exposed.")

And the Stag Night showed him what happens when he tries to "detect" under the influence...but then again, maybe the Stag Night started the trend back off the wagon.

I would LIKE to think he was making himself out to be a junkie to bait CAM. Ironic, after Moriarty's smear campaign.

 

I'm pretty sure that he was trying to draw out Magnussen with the junkie act-- partly because he kept turning down the morphine thingie in the hospital after he was shot. 

I'm in the US, too-- and we have a punitive attitude to drugs; and as for nicotine, well-- here, it's he Anti-Christ. So, I feel like there are some mixed messages in the series--regarding drugs and cigarettes; we don't seem to get as upset with Greg Lestrade for his drinking and smoking, not Mrs. Hudson for her herbal soothers-- but with Sherlock, an intervention complete with slapping the heck out of him is approved and lauded. It smacks of the American focus on "tough love" for addicts, seeing the addict as victimizer *first*-- and not someone with a disease. It's just an observation-- and I'm actually curious to hear from UK viewers-- what is the attitude towards drug use in the UK? How does it differ from the US? Because the approach the writers are using seems a little...Hollywood. 

And by the way-- Maybe Sherlock should take up Vaping. :-)  Much less offensive to his freinds. I did, and haven't had a cigarette in a year and three months. 

 

 
Our laws are slightly more rational; for example, the NHS website suggests that for some people it is better for them to continue on methadone for years, rather than try to stop using altogether. This would go down like a lead balloon in the US, but here it is the conventional medical viewpoint. I have to say that there is no way in which someone can be forced to provide samples of anything for drug testing here; Moftiss were most definitely taking major liberties with the law. Equally, there would have been no way to obtain a search warrant for Baker St; again, Moftiss were going for dramatic effect rather than any semblance of reality.

It did, however, give John an excuse for getting away from suburbia, so it's not all bad

Willow wrote:

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

In the earlier episodes, wasn't it mostly smoking (tobacco)?

The original Holmes used drugs when he didn't have anything else to do...and while I can believe this Sherlock would be curious about drugs, would always be looking for new forms of excitement, and would not be opposed to drugs in any moral sense, if he had an interesting mystery to solve I can't believe he would do anything that could sabotage his ability to think. He's all about using his brain to control everything else.

And, (although I know more about drug laws in the US than in the UK), Sherlock is willing to break laws for some purposes, but here in the US, drugs are a big thing people are investigated and arrested for, so if the drugs ARE illegal, that could compromise his position as the ally of Scotland Yard. He didn't seem worried about that, as CAM even acknowledged. ("You wouldn't care if that was exposed.")

And the Stag Night showed him what happens when he tries to "detect" under the influence...but then again, maybe the Stag Night started the trend back off the wagon.

I would LIKE to think he was making himself out to be a junkie to bait CAM. Ironic, after Moriarty's smear campaign.

 

I'm pretty sure that he was trying to draw out Magnussen with the junkie act-- partly because he kept turning down the morphine thingie in the hospital after he was shot. 

I'm in the US, too-- and we have a punitive attitude to drugs; and as for nicotine, well-- here, it's he Anti-Christ. So, I feel like there are some mixed messages in the series--regarding drugs and cigarettes; we don't seem to get as upset with Greg Lestrade for his drinking and smoking, not Mrs. Hudson for her herbal soothers-- but with Sherlock, an intervention complete with slapping the heck out of him is approved and lauded. It smacks of the American focus on "tough love" for addicts, seeing the addict as victimizer *first*-- and not someone with a disease. It's just an observation-- and I'm actually curious to hear from UK viewers-- what is the attitude towards drug use in the UK? How does it differ from the US? Because the approach the writers are using seems a little...Hollywood. 

And by the way-- Maybe Sherlock should take up Vaping. :-)  Much less offensive to his freinds. I did, and haven't had a cigarette in a year and three months. 

 

 
Our laws are slightly more rational; for example, the NHS website suggests that for some people it is better for them to continue on methadone for years, rather than try to stop using altogether. This would go down like a lead balloon in the US, but here it is the conventional medical viewpoint. I have to say that there is no way in which someone can be forced to provide samples of anything for drug testing here; Moftiss were most definitely taking major liberties with the law. Equally, there would have been no way to obtain a search warrant for Baker St; again, Moftiss were going for dramatic effect rather than any semblance of reality.

It did, however, give John an excuse for getting away from suburbia, so it's not all bad

Getting John back to Sherlock is always a good thing....

We do have some rather draconian laws here in the States; here, where we have prisons for profit-- people go to jail, partly because it's big business. In some states, where there's a three strikes law, you get busted on a drug possion charge 3 times, and you are in federal prison doing hard time. Sherlock is very luck he's a UK citizen. :-)

Another thing I was thinking about-- John couldn't understand why Sherlock wouldn't call him if he thought he was getting close to using again... but I think i can understand. One, look at the reaction he got. Who would want to go through that, particularily if you were in an emotionally vulnerable state? 

Also-- The Mrs. Hudson effect. I can't believe that she wouldn't have been saying, "Oh, don't bother John, dear, he's on his honeymoon, " and " They're expecting, dear--they need time to bond, " and " Marriage changes people, Sherlock, they need time alone..."  That might be why Sherlock didn't reach out to John.